Hi all … we just arrived home from the airport and were met by three very crazy dogs!  Our flight from Narita was very crowded (good news for Hawai’i tourism!) and we experienced something amazing after we landed in Honolulu – the airport staff were all very nice!  Everyone from the gate personnel, immigration, and customs, were very welcoming and personable!  We’ve been traveling back and forth to Japan several times a year for the past 3-4 years and this is the FIRST time we were pleasantly greeted!  I guess someone finally listened to all the complaints and did something – CONGRATULATIONS!!  Now … be consistent and keep it up!

Our last night in Tokyo was a real blast!  After we finished our performance at the Nihon Seinenkan, we went to dinner with Ann, our manager, and her husband Sam.  Sam ordered us a couple of draft beers while we were waiting to order, and I knew I was in trouble when he downed his mug in one big gulp!  It was all downhill after that as we went from beer to sake, and I don’t remember too much except that we ended up singing karaoke till almost 2am!  I felt kind of bad afterward though, because it also turned out to be Ann & Sam’s wedding anniversary and they ended up spending their anniversary evening with us nut cases!

I was moving pretty slow the next morning, and it took quite an effort to get out of bed and start packing our bags for our return flight later that evening.  The boys and I had meetings that day, but our good friends, the Taguchis, came by to visit and took the ladies out to a wonderful sukiyaki lunch!  The Taguchis are such nice people and have been so good to me and my family!  MAHALO!!

I like to extend another warm mahalo from me & my family to all of you who made this trip a huge success … Takashi, Takashi, Shane, Ann, Sam,Tadao, Erika, Naoko, Nao, Miyuki, Naoko, Nishio-san, Kurihara-san, Mori-san, Hidaka-san, Hirai-san, Mayor Hannemann, Mayor Akiba, Wayne, Don, Doi-san, Kawasaki-san, and all the rest!

I’m starting to get a little punchy now, so I’ll stop and get some sleep!  I’ll probably remember more stuff in the next few days so I’ll be sure to add it to my blog!

Aloha, the “D”